See what changed 2015-16 season will bring to Allentown's Miller Symphony Hall

Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown will have a season of celebrations for the 2015-16 schedule.

Diane Wittry will observe her 20th year as Allentown Symphony’s musical director/conductor. The hall will mark 80 years of burlesque since its founding as the Lyric Theater, and the 20th anniversary of its Schadt String Competition.

Shows this season also will mark the 100th anniversary of legendary jazz singer/songwriter Billie Holiday’s birth and the 50th anniversary of both “The Sound of Music” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

All will be part of a season of nearly two dozen performances in the Allentown Symphony Orchestra pops series, classical concerts, Live on Stage and family live musical theater.

Shows in the orchestra and pop series are $20-$43 and the family series are $15 and $50 for a family four-pack. The Live on Stage shows are $28-$80, with five of the seven shows offering student tickets for $10.

Symphony Hall Executive Director Sheila Evans said that as competition for entertainment dollars increases in the area with PPL Center arena nearby and other venues, “we’re playing on our strengths.”

“We’re trying to ensure that we’re providing the best value for the entertainment people want to see,” she said. “We really try to play off our intimacy. We think the quality of entertainment will make them come back — and they do.

“Our core product is the symphony, and we like to try things that will grow interest in classic music. So many people are scared of the classical music, it’s always good to bring them in to introduce them to it. We’re trying to pull everything together in an integral brand with which we can be distinct.”

A mainstay of Symphony Hall and the symphony is Wittry, who is credited with taking what once was a community orchestra to new heights and infusing it with innovative and creative programming.

That can be seen in the orchestra’s new pops season. It will kick off at 7:30 p.m. July 11 with “Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles,” which presents 30 songs by the Fab Four sung, played and performed as they were written, such as “Penny Lane” with a live trumpet section and “Yesterday” with a string quartet.

The 50th anniversary of “The Sound of Music” Oct. 17 will include music from other Rodgers and Hammerstein productions such as “South Pacific,” “Carousel” and “Oklahoma.” It also will feature Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein III, grandson of the famous composer.

Award-winning Broadway singer/actress Lynnie Godfrey’s show “Embraces the Standards” Jan. 23 will have her performing favorites by Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Henry Mancini and others.

“One Singular Sensation: A Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch” May 14 will have Broadway soloists Donna McKechnie, Christiane Noll and Doug LeBrecque and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Chorus paying tribute to Hamlisch’s Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning songs. They include “The Way We Were” and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for “The Sting.”

Philadelphia’s renowned Curtis Institute of Music returns April 16.

Family concerts will be Once Upon an Orchestra: Musical Fairy Tales on Feb. 20, featuring the Allentown Symphony Orchestra playing music from “Aladdin,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Beauty and the Beast” and more.

The Family Series Live Musical Theater will offer the return of the popular Mooseltoe shows with “Mooseltoe, The New Moosical,” Nov. 28. “Ladybug Girl & Bumblebee Boy, The Musical” will be Feb. 27, and “Peter Rabbit Tales” will be March 26 — “perfect timing; the Saturday before Easter,” Evans said.

Another popular series, Clifford the Big Red Dog, will return April 23.

The 20th annual Schadt String Competition for Cello will be March 6, with cello soloists from around the nation vying for a first prize of $8,000 and a solo concerto engagement with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra the following season.

A program of Sibelius & Tchaikovsky featuring last year’s Schadt winner, Zeyu Victor Li, on Nov. 14 and 15 will be a highlight of the classical season. Featured will be the world premiere of Roberto Sierra’s “Rapsodico,” commissioned by the Allentown Symphony.

Other shows in the classical series will be Puccini’s Greatest Hits, featuring soloists from Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, Feb. 13 and 14; Stravinsky’s Petrushka, featuring dancers from the Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley, March 12 and 13; and Carmina Burana with the Allentown Symphony Chorus and the Bel Canto Children’s Chorus, April 9 and 10.

The Live on Stage series will start at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 with Hungary's foremost violin virtuoso, Zoltan Maga, who has been featured on PBS, playing with a cast of singers, ballroom dancers and orchestra.

Hot Bijouxx: A Tribute to Legendary Jazz Singer Billie Holiday, July 17, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birth. Holiday died in 1959.

Eric Mintel Quartet will celebrate 50 years of the iconic animated TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on Dec. 16 with music from the program.

The salute to 80 years of burlesque will be marked with “Burlesque to Broadway” on Oct. 31. The performance stars Quinn Lemley with her backup divas and live big band. Symphony Hall officials said there are plans for a VIP meet-and-greet and possible costume contest — since it will be Halloween.

“It’s probably the most exciting thing on the schedule,” Evans said. “ ‘Burlesque to Broadway’ will be very fun — a great Halloween event. I like the date; I like the idea that it’s returning. People remember burlesque at the Lyric. It’s a tribute back to the beginning of the hall.”

Mummenschanz will take the stage Jan. 16. The Swiss mask theater troupe performs in a prop-oriented style. The name Mummenschanz is German for “mummery,” or a play involving mummers.

There also will be two dance shows in the Live on Stage series: Houston Ballet II on Oct. 10 and Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal on May 7, 2016.

Evans said it will be first time there has been classical ballet in the hall.